Faulty Parallel Structure in Sentences Parallel Structure Understand the Problem For a list of actions or items you must maintain parallel structure To do this use equal grammatical units ID: 587775
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Slide1
Recognizing and Correcting
Faulty Parallel Structure in Sentences
Parallel
StructureSlide2
Understand the ProblemFor
a list of actions or items, you must maintain parallel structure.To do this, use equal grammatical units. If the first item is a noun, then the following items must also be
nouns.If
the first item is a verb, then make the other items verbs.Slide3
Know the Solution
We spent the hour in the waiting room reading old magazines, eating
stale cookies from the vending machine, and we wiggled
on the hard plastic chairs.Once you discover a nonparallel item, make it conform to the other grammatical items in the sentence. Slide4
Know the Solution
. . . reading old magazines and eating stale cookies are
participle phrases; (A participle is a verbal (head of a verb phrase) that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -
ing or -ed
. ) we wiggled is a main clause.
To correct the nonparallel item, the sentence would look like:Slide5
Know the SolutionWe spent the hour in the waiting room
reading old magazines, eating stale cookies from the vending machine, and wiggling
on the hard plastic chairs.
orIn the waiting room, we read old magazines, ate stale cookies from the vending machine, and
wiggled on the hard plastic chairs.Slide6
Special Cases
not only . . . but also, either. . . . or, andneither . . . nor
Each of the above require special attention when proofreading
for parallelism.Slide7
Special CasesThese correlative (paired) conjunctions require equal grammatical units after both parts of the conjunction
.You have two possible main clauses like:
Not only did Robert buy
flowers for his mother, but also he purchased a bouquet for his wife.
Robert bought flowers not only for his mother, but also for his wife.Slide8
Practice A
Brianda was excited about inviting friends over, eating a good meal, and _______.a game of cards
to play cards
playing a game of cardsSlide9
Practice A
I have always enjoyed reading the book more than _______.I watched the movie version.
watching
the movie.to watch the movie.Slide10
Practice AWhen
the weather outside is cold and _______, Edwin likes to be indoors.starting
to get windy
windygetting windySlide11
Practice ASkateboarding, running, and
_______ are three of Brhando’s favorite exercises.
racquetball
a spinning classbicyclingSlide12
Practice B Make each sentence parallel, if needed.
I find geography most interesting. I like to study faraway locations and learning about famous cities.Do you believe that reading about a beautiful place is almost as good as to visit it?The Seine River runs through the city and supplies water to all Parisians.
It is interesting that Paris has always attracted artists, and refugees have always been welcome.
visiting
to learn
parallel
welcomedSlide13
Let’s try some!
Parallel Structure